Railway-switch mechanism.



c. B. RICE, JR. RAILWAY SWITCH MECHANISM. APPLICATION-FILED OUT. 21, 1908.

Patented June 1, 1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

INVENTOR 0i fi.

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G. B. RICE, Jn. RAILWAY swrrcn MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED OUT. 21, 1908. 923,580.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

A K6353 212 X,

Patented June 1,1909.

UNITE STATS PATENT OFFTQE.

CHRISTOPHER B. RICE, JR, OF PIQUA, OHIO.

RAILWAY-SWITCH MECHANISM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented. June 1, 1909.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHRISTOPHER B. RIoE, Jr., of Piqua, in the county of Miami and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway Switch Mechanism; and I do hereby declare the followmg to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertams to make and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in rallway switch operating mechanism, the obect of the invention being to simplify and improve mechanism of the type illustrated by Letters-Patent No. 765,195, granted to me on the 19th day of July 1904.

W th this object in View, the invention consists 1n certain novel features of construction and combinations of parts as hereinafter set forth and pointed out in the claims. In the accompanying drawings; Figure 1 s a dlagrammatic plan view illustrating my mprovements; Figs. 2, 3 and 4 are views illustrating various details of construction.

represents the rails of a main track; 2 a siding, and 3 the pivoted switch rails. A bar 4 connects the switch rails and projects laterally from the track. With the free end ofthis bar, a rod 5 has a sliding connection, said rod passing freely through a projection 6 on the end of the bar, and provided with nuts or collars 7 at respective sides of said projection. The outer end of the rod 5 is pivotally attached to one arm of a bellcrank-lever 8, and the other arm of this lever is provided with rollers 9 disposed in a cam groove or way 1.0 in a wheel 11 located near the trackway.

The upper portion of the wheel 11 is pro vided with peripheral teeth to form a gear wheel 12, while the lower portion of the wheel is provided with a series of peripheral sockets 13 for a purpose hereinafter eX- plained,the intermediate peripheral portion of the wheel having a groove 14 for the accommodation of the short arm of the bell crank 8 to permit the rollers on the latter to operate in the cam groove 10.

The wheel 11 is mounted on a vertical shaft 15 rising from a suitable base 17 and on this base, a toothed segment 18 is pivotally mounted. This segment is adapted to mesh with the teeth of the gear wheel 12 and is provided with a flange 19 to overlap the gear wheel and assist in insuring the proper meshing of the segment with the gear wheel.

To further insure the accurate engagement of the segment with the gear wheel, the latter is provided with lugs 20 to be engaged by the segment when the latter begins to engage the teeth of the gear wheel.

The segment 18 is provided at its pivoted end with a laterally projecting arm 21, to the free end of which, one end of a rod 22 is connected. The other end of the rod 22 is connected with one arm of a-bell-crank 23, and between its ends, said rod is provided with a turn-buckle 24 for adjusting its length and thus regulating the stroke of the segment 18.

The bell-crank 23 is located between the rails of the track some distance in advance of the switch, and adjacent to said bell-crank, a wheel 25 is mounted between the rails. The wheel 25 is somewhat similar in construction to the wheel 11, being provided with a cam groove or way 26 to receive rollers 27 on the end of the short arm of the bell-crank 23. The wheel 25 is provided with a worm wheel 28 located in a manner similar to the gear wheel 12 of the wheel 11 and receives motion from a worm 29. The worm 29 is located centrally between the ends of a shaft 30 mounted in suitable bearings between the rails and disposed parallel with the latter. The shaft 30 is made with a groove 31, the major portion of which is spirally arranged, but the ends of which are straight and parallel with the axis of the shaft.

The devices above described may be covered by a suitable plate or casing having a slot therein for the passage of a shoe depending from a car, said shoe being adapted to pass through the groove 31 as the car moves over the trackway, and thus cause the rota tion of the shaft 30. The rotary motion of the shaft 30 is transmitted, through the medium of the worm 29 and worm wheel 28 to the wheel 25. As the wheel 25 is thus turned, motion will be transmitted, by means of the cam 26 to the bell-crank 23 and the latter will, through the medium of the rod 22 and arm 21, operate the segment 18 to turn the wheel 11. Motion will be imparted by the wheel 11 (through the medium of the cam 10) to the bell crank 8, which latter effects the throwing of the switch rails through the medium of the bar 4 and rod 5. By providing a sliding connection between the rod 5 and bar 4, the segment 18 can be brought completely into mesh with the gear teeth on wheel 11, before the motion of the latter will be transmitted to the switch rails.

Some distance behind the switch, track devices the same in construction as those above described, are located at 38 and connected by means of a system of rods and levers, with another segment 34 to cooperate with the gear teeth of the wheel 11, so that the switch. can be operated by a train after it has passed the switch, or by a train running in the opposite direction. Similarly, track devices are located at 35 along the siding, so that a train running on the latter can operate the switch,said track devices being connected by rods and levers with a segment 36 which cooperates with the gear teeth of the wheel 11.

It is important to prevent the wheel 11 from moving too far when it is operated. For this purpose, I provide a locking bar 37 which is pivotally supported between its ends in proximity to the wheel 11, and provided at its ends with teeth 38 to engage the notches 13 in the periphery of the wheel. (in its rear edge, the locking bar is provided near its ends with cams 39 to be engaged by a roller 40 on the segment 18. When said segment is moved in one direction or the other to transmit motion to the wheel 11, the roller 40 on said segment will cooperate with the cam 39 on one end of the locking bar and turn the latter so as to cause one of the teeth 30 to engage one of the notches in the wheel 1] when the segment has moved the wheel 11 sufficiently to operate the switch, and thus lock said wheel against further movement. It is apparent that the bar 37 will operate to lock the wheel 11 and prevent it from being thrown too far in either direction.

In order that the mechanism shall be operative manually, another segment 41. will be provided to cooperate with the wheel 11, and this segment is connected by means of a rod 42 with an arm on a target shaft 43. A hand lever 44 is connected with the target shaft for operating the latter to actuate the segment 41 and wheel 11 and throw the switch.

For the purpose ofoperating the target 45, when the switch is thrown, the devices now to be described may be employed. ii. bellcrank lever 46 has one of its arms connected with the bell-crank 8 by means of a rod 47, and the other arm of the bell-crank 46 is connected, by means of a rod 48, with an arm 49 connected with the target shaft. The connecting rod 47 is made in two parts having sliding connection with each other, so that crated to throw the switch, both targets will also be operated.

Various slight changes in the details of construction of my invention, might be made without departing from the spirit thereof or limiting its scope and hence I do not wish to restrict myself to the exact details herein set forth.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Lettors-Patent, is

l. in a railway switch mechanism, the combination with a switch rail and a wheel located a distance therefrom and provided with a worm gear, of a shaft located parallel with the track rails and having a worm to mesh with said worm gear, said shaft having a spiral way to receive a shoe on a car for rotating said shaft, and mechanism between said wheel and switch rail for throwing the latter, when said shaft and wheel are turned.

2. in a railway switch, the combination with a switch rail, of a wheel located a distance from the switch rail and provided with a worm gear and a cam, of a shaft located parallel W'llill the track rails and provided with a worm to mesh with said worm gear, said shaft having a spiral groove to receive shoe carried by a car, a bell-crank having one of its arms cooperating with the cam in said wheel, and mechanism interposed between the other arm of said bellcrank and the switch rail for throwing the latter.

3. in a railway switch mechanism, the combination with a switch rail, of a wheel located in proximity thereto and provided with a cam and with gear teeth, a bell-crank having one arm cooperating with said cam, a sliding lost-motion connection between the other arm of said bell-crank and the switch rail, a segment to cooperate with said gear teeth, a track instrument, and connections between said track instrument and said segment.

4. In a railway switch mechanism, the combination with a switch rail, of a wheel located in proximity thereto and provided with a cam, connections between said cam and switch rail, means for turning said wheel to operate the svdtch rail, and means for locking said wheel when the switch rail shall have been thrown.

5. in a railway switch mechanism, the combination with a switch rail, of a wheel located in proximity thereto, said wheel having a cam, connections between said cam and switch rail, a segment to actuate said wheel, and means controlled by said segment to lock said wheel when the switch rail shall have been thrown.

6. In a railway switch mechanism, the combination with a switch rail, of a wheel located in proximity thereto and provided with gear teeth, said wheel also having a cam, connections between said cam and the switch rail, a toothed segment to mesh with said gear teeth, a locking bar to engage said wheel and lock the same when the switch has been thrown, means on the segment to operate said locking bar, and means for operating the segment.

7. In a railway switch mechanism, the combination with a switch rail, of a wheel located in proximity thereto, means intermediate of said wheel and switch rail for throwing the latter, means for locking said wheel when the switch rail has been thrown and means for operating said wheel.

8. In a railway switch mechanism, the combination with a switch rail, of a wheel located in proximity thereto, means cooperating with said wheel and switch rail for operating the latter, a gear wheel movable with said firstmentioned wheel, a toothed segment to mesh with said gear wheel, a locking bar to engage said wheel, cams on said locking bar, a projection on the segment to cooperate with said cams to control the operation of said locking bar, and

means for operating said segment.

9. In a railway switch mechanism, the combination with a switch rail, of a wheel located in proximity thereto and provided with a cam, a bell-crank cooperating with said cam and with the switch rail, a target, connections between said target and bellcrank, and means for turning said wheel.

10. In a railway switch mechanism, the combination with a switch rail, of a wheel l located in proximity thereto and provided with a cam, a bell-crank cooperating with said bell-crank and switch rail, a track instrument, connections between said track 2 instrument and wheel for operating the latter, a target near the switch rail, a target 1 near the track instrument, and devices connected with said bell-crank for operating both of said targets when the switch rail is thrown.

1].. In a railway switch mechanism, the combination with a switch rail, of a wheel located. in proximity thereto, said wheel having a cam, a bell-crank cooperating with said cam and with the switch rail, gear teeth on said wheel, a toothed segment to mesh with said gear teeth, lugs on the wheel to be engaged by said segment, an arm proj ecting from said segment, a wheel located a distance from the switch rail and provided with a cam, means operative from a car to actuated said last-mentioned wheel, a bellcrank having one of its arms cooperating with the cam of said last-mentioned wheel, and an adjustable rod connecting the other arm of said last-mentioned bell-crank witl the arm on the segment.

In testimony whereof, I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHRISTOPHER B. RICE, JR.

Witnesses BLAND SOUDDER, C. F. BOWELLE. 

